The Thousand-Year Graveyard

Sophia ScherlisGino Fornaciari of the University of Pisa is a master at reading health and disease from bones. Francesco CoschinoOne woman was buried with her spectacles in the 1700s. Leslie Williams/Utah State UniversityAncient teeth preserve signs of trauma and malnutrition.

Noble Secrets (1400 to 1600 C.E.)

One July morning, project co-director Gino Fornaciari dropped by the church. There he found his former student, Vercellotti, examining teeth with Poinar. “Why are the teeth so good?” Poinar asked. Fornaciari replied: “They’re young. The teeth are good because the normal age of death was 40.” He pointed out that the tooth wear can also reveal whether someone ate many tough grains such as coarse millet, or a more refined, soft diet.

When it comes to reading the signature of disease and foul play in the bones of ancient people, Fornaciari is the master. A professor in the medical school at the University of Pisa and the father of team member Antonio Fornaciari, he’s famous for investigating the lives and deaths of the ancient nobility of Italy, including the Medici of Florence, who lived just 60 km from Badia Pozzeveri.

This site offers him and the others a rare chance to examine the health of commoners as well as nobles during the Renaissance. They have already found people of various social classes, buried in area 3000 from 1500 to 1700. One woman was buried with her spectacles—an expensive and treasured accessory—and several skeletons were interred in a costly stone-lined vault inside the ancient church. But most of the bones were buried in wooden coffins outside the churchyard and probably were those of poorer rural people, whose daily lives are less well known than the nobility of cities.

Francesco CoschinoOne 18th century woman was buried with her bronze spectacles in a privileged spot in front of the church. Researchers hope to compare her bones with those of poorer people.

Commoners’ bones will provide a counterpoint to Fornaciari’s work elsewhere revealing the woeful condition of the well-fed nobility. In Naples, he examined the mummy of Maria d’Aragona (see graphic, below), a noblewoman who lived from 1503 to 1568 and was a famed beauty in her youth—but was obese at death. That fits with what he has learned about her fellow nobles’ diet. In 2008, Fornaciari analyzed carbon and nitrogen ratios in bone collagen from other princes of Naples and the Medici of Florence, and found that they had as much nitrogen in their diet as carnivorous mammals. Clearly, Renaissance royalty ate unhealthy quantities of meat at a time when many rural people struggled to get enough calories.

Nor was rank a protection against horrific infectious diseases. When Fornaciari cut off a linen bandage from Maria d’Aragona’s arm, he discovered a large ulcer. He examined the tissue with a scanning electron microscope and rinsed it with antibodies that fluoresce in the presence of the bacteria that cause syphilis, Treponema pallidum. The tissue was so well preserved that he could detect the spiral shape of the bacteria; he sent tissue to Poinar to confirm the diagnosis. Poor Maria also harbored human papillomavirus in a venereal wart—the first diagnosis of this sexually transmitted, cancer-causing disease in the tissue of a mummy, Fornaciari reported in a 2006 paper.

Sexually transmitted diseases were common in Renaissance Italy. Syphilis raced through the country in the 1500s, possibly after Spanish sailors brought a new venereal form from the New World. Fornaciari also examined Maria’s distant relative, Isabella d’Aragona, who was also buried in Naples (see graphic, below). She was married to the Duke of Milan and is thought by many to be the model for Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. When Fornaciari looked closely at this lady’s teeth, he found that they had been abraded to remove most of the enamel. The remaining enamel traces were black, a sign that she had taken mercury, which was then used—ineffectively—to treat syphilis. Lab tests confirmed that the black patina had a high level of mercury and that Isabella d’Aragona was poisoned by her own medicine, dying at age 54 in 1524.

By comparing the teeth and bones of urban nobles with those of Pozzeveri peasants, the team hopes to see how social rank affected health. The teeth of the noblewomen are less worn, because they ate a softer diet with meat, whereas poorer women and children often ate coarse millet. Vercellotti and Larsen expect to see more disruptions in tooth growth caused by lack of food during childhood in the peasants. With the graveyard’s large sample sizes, they hope to compare the men and women of Badia Pozzeveri to see who was better fed.

About the Black patina on tooth enamel. Is it mainly on occlusal surfaces? Do you think it may have to do with mercury treatment? I have studied 16th and 17th century burial ground from Turku Finland with two cases of syphilis and a few individuals with blackish colored occlusal surfaces of enamel. I was thinking could it be stains of mercury. I can send you a photo, if this sounds familiar or interesting.

Ann Gibbons

Yes, it is a result of the mercury treatment for syphilis.

Carl Ottersen

Thank you all for this. I know the region quite well but not this place. I must come and visit one day when back in Italy. Always great to see innovative work matched by an excellent presentation. Looking forward to seeing more.

Bob

Is there any sensitivity that these folks are digging up peoples’ remains, and joking about sound dentistry??

C S Thompson

I agree. I wonder where we are to draw the line when it comes to disturbing the graves of the dead. (I am referring to the remains of the graves discovered to be from the 1800s–which are certainly not ‘ancient’) I surely would not want my ancestors dug up and studied after they were laid to rest. I understand that scientific research and study is important but at what point do we say, enough?

shrao

I believe the legal position in most jurisdictions is that if there is a documentary record (e.g., of burial and identity) and present heirs with an interest in their ancestors’ remains, these are handled respectfully. But if there is no record, and no living person or group claiming the remains as forebears, people can do what they want. I don’t know about Italy, but in the US and elsewhere, skeletons and such that get in the way of construction projects are just discarded as trash (the people who find them may be enlightened enough to consult an archeologist or notify the government first, but this is not legally required and does not always happen).

Meg

the specific area they are talking about had known burial records. they contacted any existing members before excavation. also the community is very involved and supportive of the excavation.

AQ

Just to say that this is very common work all over the planet, I don’t understand why this site is cited here in Science news while tens of excavations of this exact kind are done every year by archaelogist of all historical and prehistorical periods… Ancient DNA? Disease identification? Health over the centuries? Everyday work for hundred of anthropologists in many labs…

porkchop

this article is very badly in need of copy editing, does anybody read this stuff before it’s published? I refer to the print version, dont know if the online version is as bad.

Steven Lang

While it is true that this type of work is going on in many parts of the world, this presentation is beautifully done so as to make it more accessible to non experts. It is important for scientists to get the general public interested in their work, and I think this multi-media exercise is great. Well done.

what with C.E. ??? Please go back to the NORMAL usual way of noting the years……BC and AD !!!

Mairead

“BC” and “AD” are not “normal” or “usual” any more, they’re outdated and parochial. The current, cross-cultural notation is B(efore)C(ommon)E(ra) and C(ommon)E(ra).

Not everyone organises dates based on the supposed (and even then incorrect) birth year of a semi-mythological individual.

Ed

who wrote this crap? The English is appalling.

Ann Gibbons

I did.

LB

I think you did an excellent job and I really enjoyed reading this article. When I got to the end, I felt like I just watched a movie with an incredible cliffhanger and now I have to wait to find out how it ends.

Booger T. Wang

Nothing more than modern day state sponsored grave robbers they are. I have family who died in the 1790′s and 1800′s whose graves have been desecrated by these “university” ghouls. They learn nothing that isn’t already known. Nothing but “Grant Money babies” and “State sponsored publishing”…which almost no one ever reads.

Baah!

Ann Gibbons

In this case, the paleoanthropologists and archaeologists have met extensively with the local people whose ancestors are buried here. The local people want them there, partly because Italians are fascinated by their history and heritage and see the archaeology as a way to draw tourists to their medieval church, which they are proud of. It’s also falling apart and the team of scientists has agreed to restore it at the end, so they’ll have a church back. A win-win for everyone here. And besides, the archaeologists and anthropologists on this team (and who I know elsewhere) are all sensitive to the impact of what they’re doing on local people and work with them from the start of their projects. Besides, there are laws that make that happen now anyway. These are NOT grave robbers.

I cannot believe that in 2014 it is still possible to see excavation photos with archaeologists/anthropologists not wearing gloves/masks! At some point ancient DNA always comes into play in these studies and yet it seems that archaeologists and anthropologists are never given a pair of powder free latex gloves and a face mask…

Despite the consent of the descendant/local community, it is doubtful that a 13th century monk would have consented to have his remains disinterred and his teeth unceremoniously yanked out. What will be done with the excavated remains when the project concludes? Will the remains be reinterred?